Halloween raises spirits for Houma store

Kathrine SchmidtStaff Writer

Sunday

Oct 26, 2008 at 3:00 PMOct 31, 2008 at 4:12 PM

HOUMA — Most business owners have to worry about inventory. Not everybody has to keep track of rotting teeth, roman breastplates and baby-blue chiffon bell-bottoms.But that comes with the territory for Bernadette Dugas, who’s in her 10th year as owner of Mermaid’s Masquerade Costume Sales and Rentals.“It’s a fun business to be in,” said Dugas, 59, standing amid the meticulously arranged racks of costumes in the rear of her store, which sees its high business times around Halloween and and Mardi Gras. “They’re excited about what they’re buying.”Dugas has turned a lifetime love for creativity and design into a successful Main Street institution that draws customers from locales that include Morgan City, Lafayette and New Orleans. In the case of the Crescent City, that’s especially important because so many costume shops shut down after Hurricane Katrina.Growing up, Dugas said, her mother taught her design and sewing skills. But when she started to acquire a collection of costumes she’d made, family members suggested she put them to use.So she opened up in a home across the street from her present store on Main Street.“After the first year, there was no space,” she said, so she moved across the street to the 7,000-square-foot shop.A walk amid the racks of costumes is a high-speed trip through the ages, real and imaginary. It’s an inventory of at least 3,500 costumes, which Dugas said is one of the biggest in the Deep South.There are Southern-belle gowns in pastel colors and blue Confederate-solider jackets to match. There are plaid bell-bottoms from the 60s, pleated leisure suits from the 70s, spangles from the 80s.“These are my pirates,” she said, strolling past Star Wars outfits and big-headed cartoons used for kids’ birthday parties. “These are my vampires.”Dugas has sewn many of the elaborate pieces herself, from a heavy Roman-style breastplate and fur cape to leather costumes modeled after Xena: The Warrior Princess. That’s a popular one.“Like, five women said, ‘I want that costume,’ ” she laughed, so she made more.Others are unique vintage pieces culled during her shopping and travelling.“We’re literally hanging things from the ceiling,” she said, gesturing toward a shoe rack suspended by white string from the roof, part of an orderly, expansive footwear collection that includes spangly platforms and black boots with a bright-red goldfish in the heel.In addition to the rentals, the shop has premade costumes for sale, along with a huge inventory of wigs and beards, spooky masks and mangled teeth. She sells a couple thousand pieces each Halloween in addition to her rentals.The secret to her success? “We work really closely with everyone,” she said, carefully coordinating costumes with shoes, accessories and the like to get a customized look. “It’s the personal service we give that sets us apart.Dugas has been a designer, producer and model, working in Los Angeles, Mississippi and Georgia. But when it came time to raise her two boys, she wanted them to be able to grow up with their grandparents, so she headed home and began to carve herself a creative niche here.In addition to the shop, she also teaches public speaking at Nicholls State University and is co-owner and producer of the South Louisiana Casting & Production Company, a local theater group.The costumes, as well as her creative sense, will soon be poured into another project. She created an independent production company called Dark Horse Pictures with one of her sons, Dustin Schuetter. They’re going to begin filming a comedy, “The Dedd Brothers,” with a western and a vampire movie to follow.But for all the costume fun at Halloween, she doesn’t have plans to dress up this year.“I’m tired,” she said. “I go home and watch TV.”

Staff Writer Kathrine Schmidt can be reached at 857-2204 or kathrine.schmidt@houmatoday.com

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